Friday, January 28, 2011

My husband's parents returned from Arizona yesterday, having spent a week there with my Father-in-Law's siblings.In their bags they brought 5 grapefruit from Uncle Warren's tree.As I was their taxi at 12:00 AM, I got to bring one home with me.Mmmm.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

It's Wednesday, so it's Yarn Along time, head on over to Ginny's to play along!Today I am still reading Anne of Green Gables, and yesterday we went to the library and got some new books.This Captain Raptor story is the Younger's favorite thing, EVER, and we read it twice yesterday and it was the first thing he asked for when he woke up this morning.I foresee many more readings as the day goes on.

I am knitting the Northman Mittens from Southern Cross Fibre. They're super fast and I might have a pair of mittens for my next Norwegian Mittens class meeting next Tuesday.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

This winter is the snowiest that we have had in Minnesota since I was in high school, and the coldest since I was in college, and it's starting to get me down.I thought I would share some of my favorite coping mechanisms to keep the winter blahs at bay.

1. Put springtime photos where you can see them.2. Bake. A lot.It takes your mind off the snow and heats up the house.3. Keep the house well-stocked with citrus fruit.At worst the bright colors will cheer you up, and at best you can imagine you're in some warmer clime and you've just picked these from a tree in your back yard.On Friday there is a heat wave expected when we'll see a temperature above freezing! Maybe the end is in sight.

What are your favorite things to stave off the winter downers?

*Update*O.K., I have been doing outside things too, I went skating and had a lot of fun, but the way below zero temps are not my favorites.

Friday, January 21, 2011

It's cold, and I am dissatisfied with my current knitting project.Only those two factors combined would give me the impetus to create this table full of clean dishes, along with the baking bread and roasting chicken in the oven.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

It's Wednesday!Time to Yarn Along with Ginny.I must be reacting to the winter weather, because I am reading and knitting green this week.Last week I was sick with a stomach bug, and I reached for some comfort food in book form with Anne of Green Gables.I must read this once a year.Lucy Maud Montgomery has such a way with words.Her descriptions of the trees and the brooks and the seaside, they all make me want to pick up my life and move to Prince Edward Island.Add to that her wonderfully rendered characters, and it's no wonder this book is such a classic.

In knitting news, I am repeating the ballet top with some adjustments. The back of the pink one is a little baggy, and the sleeves started out too big, so I'm trying to make it a little more fitted this time.I am not in love with this color, but I'll finish it up and see how it looks.

Friday, January 14, 2011

You saw this one on Wednesday in an intermediate stage, and I finished it last night.It's a little baggy on my tiny dancer, but I am pleased with it.It will definitely do the job of keeping her bare shoulders warm in dance class, and that's the most important feature of a sweater like this.Now I have an itch to knit this one again and make it a little longer for school use.It's been a while since I showered my kids with knitwear, and the time has come!What's on your needles?

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

It's Yarn Along again!I missed a couple of weeks there while I wasn't actually knitting anything!It's amazing, but true.This week I have been making a ballet sweater for the newest dancing 7-year-old in the house.She started taking a ballet class last week and it's, by far, the highlight of her week!I'm making this up as I go, I think I might pleat the sleeves, they're a little on the baggy side, and that might make it look intentional.

I can't wait to dive into the amazing alphabets and animals and oooh! I feel the knit nerd rising in me.

One other fun thing that I have been up to is making Limoncello.I showed this before picture the other day -and I finished it yesterday.I used this recipe from Food Network, and it tastes like lemon amazing.

I posted the other day about the wonderful golden light in my kitchen in the morning, and today it was just as beautiful, but brighter, clearer.I'm sure everyone is feeling like me, the return of the sun is the best part of this time of year.My one sadness is that I won't have the sunrise where and when it is right now for much longer.

We have a pretty solid morning routine, and right now the sun is joining us at just the right moment.It's a joy to see the bright pink and yellow clouds against that blue sky in the morning when I am bringing the kids to school.I didn't have the camera in the car this morning, and I missed taking a photo of the most amazing bright golden clouds.Tomorrow I won't make that mistake.What simple pleasures are making you happy today?

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

This evening I finished the project to which I alluded yesterday.It's a quilt for the boy's birthday (tomorrow) that I started in 2007, and thought about finishing in 2008.For whatever reason, I just couldn't get into the hand-quilting of this one and I finally just decided to let go, forget that I had been quilting in the shape of cute little airplanes, and stitch in the ditch.I'll have more photos tomorrow, it's in the wash right now to cleanse itself of 4 years of grubbiness.

Towards the end of the year, last month, I had an unplanned separation from my camera. Nothing dramatic, I just felt too busy to take many photos.I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, and it's been fun this week to bring it out and find something to photograph each day.Not a resolution, per se, but a reminder to myself to look for beauty everywhere.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

I had a little candy-making fiasco the first week of Winter Break, and then I had to work, and get strep throat, so the week was blown.Today I attempted to redeem myself.I made some of this honeycomb candy for the Christmas sweet stuff tins that I made up for my family, but I wasn't totally happy with it.It was slightly overdone, and I went overboard with the baking soda.Today I tried a smaller batch, a different pan and less baking soda.I also added a little rose water to the chocolate coating.

The candy gods must have been smiling today, because these honeycomb candies were like having a taste of summer in the garden.Faintly honey-flavored, with just a breath of rose when you take a bite, they're fruity and light and crunchy.I fear that my teeth will all fall out if I keep making these, because they're quickly becoming my favorite treat.One thing about this stuff is that it makes a lot of candy.I halved the batch and it still filled two small and one large mason jar.In other news, I am working on something that I put on my to-do list March of 2008, I hope to finish it by the end of the week.I won't be any more specific than that, I don't want to put undue pressure on myself.Have a beautiful, if chilly, Tuesday.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

I just got back from a solo walk in the woods.The landscape isn't much changed since Snowmageddon, even though we had a weird weather week of rain and 40 degrees, followed by wind, and sleet and now it's 11 degrees and calm.

We have lost about 6 inches of snow, but that's not such a big deal since we had about 25 inches.

The Younger and I love to walk in these woods in the Summertime. We'll have to make a trip up here to our "secret woods" this week. I think he'd love to see all of the animal tracks in the snow.I can get whiny about the winter, but there is beauty in it, even if my fingers are frozen.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Well, we're halfway to de-Christmased around here.The wintery village can stay up until the snow is gone, as far as I am concerned, but the crispy tree had to go.This works out fine, because I got a new easy chair for Christmas from my lovely hubby, and it fits just perfectly in the corner where the tree was.He did a good job with the color, don't you think?The pillow was a model for a class that I taught about Last Minute Fabric Gifts. We didn't actually end up making any of those in the class, but I am glad that I made this one anyway, since it goes so nicely with my new chair.

The Younger loves it too, it's gonna be a little difficult to get it for myself, I can just see it.I can't wait for the sun to be out more, because my camera doesn't like the dimness of wintry twilight and everything is always a little blurry.

Thank you for staying with me through that thrilling post about the blurry pictures of my chair.Happy First Day of the Year!